


May Angels Lead You In

by SargentCorn



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, F/M, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Please Don't Hate Me, Please Don't Kill Me, Please forgive me I don't know what else to put here, Sad Ending, What Have I Done, Why Did I Write This?, tagging is hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:01:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22220707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SargentCorn/pseuds/SargentCorn
Summary: Surrounded by those he loves and adores, Hosea Matthews passes peacefully in his sleep.
Relationships: Abigail Roberts Marston/John Marston, Hosea Matthews/Dutch van der Linde
Comments: 11
Kudos: 61





	May Angels Lead You In

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, uh, please don't kill me for this.
> 
> (Softly) It's the ending he deserves.

Ba-dum.

Time slowly ticked by as the gang stood or sat around Hosea’s bed. Laying in bed was Hosea, eyes closed and pale as a ghost, while Dutch lay beside him, head on his chest, listening to the slowing of Hosea’s heart. His fingers gripped the loose white nightshirt Hosea wore as tears threatened to drop from his eyes.

_Ba... dum._

Time caught up to Hosea with Death on its heels, and Hosea had very little time left. He had fallen into unconsciousness since last night and hadn’t woken up. Now they waited for the beat of his heart to finally stop. To signal his departure from Earth, and into the next world.

_Ba… .... dum._

Time brought a choked sob from Dutch’s chest. No one could fault him. To lose your lover, who was your world and more, wasn’t easy no matter how peacefully they went. Doubly so when it was a man like Hosea; kind, sweet, and thoughtful. A wonderful father to Arthur, John, Tilly, Abigail, and a sweet grandfather to Jack. A sweet lover to Bessie and Dutch. And an intelligent mentor to everyone else.

_Ba…. …. .... Dum._

Time was at least kind to allow Hosea to peacefully pass surrounded by all those he held dear. Not pass by a bullet piercing him, or a disease wrecking him from the inside. But in his sleep where he wouldn’t he feel the pain of his body fading. And no one had to watch him pass painfully, although watching him pass was still painful in its own right.

_…. …. …. ...._

A sob wracked Dutch’s body as he felt Hosea’s heart stop. His husband, lover, and best friend was gone, and he couldn’t follow him. His heart ached with the loss of his husband, and he felt Arthur’s hand settle on his shoulder. Dutch grabbed his son’s hand and sobbed harder into the lifeless body of Hosea.

Around the room, others joined in with soft sobs of their own. But for six people in the room, they sobbed as hard as Dutch was. While the gang had lost a mentor, six had lost a husband, father, and grandfather. A man like Hosea couldn’t be so easily replaced as a mentor could.

\---------

Under an oak tree he and Dutch often read under, the gang lowered Hosea’s coffin. Words were unsaid as they buried him. How could they describe the laughter, love, and wisdom Hosea had brought to them all? And one by one, they placed flowers on the dirt.

Six months later, they buried Dutch next to him. The other man couldn’t go on with Hosea in his life. One morning, they found him in his bed with a smile on his face and hand outstretched. They all suspected in his last moments, Dutch had seen Hosea welcoming him to the other side.


End file.
